Reggie Carroll: Calm before the storm

Brad Myers, The News Journal
11:43 p.m. EDT August 30, 2014

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William Penn senior running back Reggie Carroll returns this season after helping the Colonials to a 7-4 record last year. Carroll, who wears No. 25, ran for 2,100 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2013.(Photo: ANDRE L. SMITH/THE NEWS JOURNAL)Buy Photo

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William Penn's Reggie Carroll rushed for 2,088 yards and 23 touchdowns last season

While everyone else is reaching a fever pitch, the William Penn running back seeks tranquility.

"I like to listen to soothing music, like jazz or blues. Music that calms me down," Carroll said. "I feel like when I'm overhyped, I mess up more, start thinking too much.

"A lot of guys get hyped up. I'll be in the corner, just chillin'. Just sitting there by myself."

He has to be prepared for the maelstrom that awaits. Because as soon as the Colonials take the field, everybody on the opposing team will be out to get No. 25.

"You've got to slow down, calm down," Carroll said. "It's about patience, waiting for your blocks to set up, then you can sprint through. You can't just run into the back of them. You have to get the ball, know where your blocks are going to be, wait for them to develop. Then you can go."

Carroll shifted it into overdrive in the third game of the season last year and never looked back. He piled up 2,088 yards and 23 touchdowns as the Colonials finished 7-4 and lost to Caesar Rodney in the first round of the Division I playoffs. For his effort, Carroll was named first-team, All-State.

A look at some of William Penn senior Reggie Carroll's 23 touchdown runs last season. Carroll leads the preseason No. 1-ranked Colonials into the 2014 season.
The News Journal

Now, Carroll is back for his senior season. His entire offensive line returns, along with junior quarterback D.J. Johnson. All of them have improved through a diligent offseason, so it is no surprise that William Penn will begin the year ranked as The News Journal's No. 1 team in Division I.

The Colonials' offensive strategy will be no surprise, either.

"When in doubt, give it to Reggie," William Penn coach Marvin Dooley said with a laugh. "We're going to do what we do, and keep on doing it well hopefully. We're going to see if they can stop us."

Slow start

Last year was Dooley's first season as coach at his alma mater, and it got off to a rocky start. The Colonials were young, feeling their way through a new offense, and had to face two of the state's best – St. Mark's and eventual Division I champion Salesianum – right out of the gate.

"Having a new coach, getting a new system, it was kind of hard to get the plays down and know exactly where everybody was," right guard Jalin Stanley said. "And a lot of us weren't in game shape for the first two games. It was really difficult to get going."

Carroll had been slowed by a groin injury during the preseason, and the lack of conditioning showed in the season-opening, 28-0 loss to St. Mark's.

"The first drive of the St. Mark's game, I broke a run down the left sideline and I had to stop because my legs were sore," Carroll said. "After that, my legs were sore the whole game. I didn't have that kick."

It didn't get any better the next week, as Carroll was benched for a quarter after fumbling in a 28-13 loss to Salesianum. The new coach was starting to question his running back.

"I hadn't seen much in preseason, and I was still skeptical," Dooley said. "They were talking about this kid, how good he is, but I wasn't seeing it."

The next week, Carroll and the line started gaining confidence. He rushed for 236 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-20 victory over A.I. du Pont.

"Against A.I., I saw it," Dooley said. "And after that, he was great. Every time we gave him the ball, we had a chance for a home run. He made so many big runs out of nothing."

A.I. du Pont coach Zeb Blum noticed, too.

"He's exceptional," Blum said. "We were looking at him on film the other day, and he can make that cut in the hole that nobody should be able to make."

Part of the reason for the slow start was Carroll's quickness. The other Colonials had to adjust to how fast he could hit a hole.

"As soon as Brandon [Dooley] snaps me the ball, he's right there," said Johnson, the quarterback. "I've just got to put it in his stomach and let him go. In the beginning of last season, we had some timing issues and fumbled the ball a little bit. But we worked it out."

"I only have a second to move out of his way," said Brandon Dooley, the Colonials' junior center and the coach's son.

But Carroll's linemen started seeing results. And that only made them want to block harder.

"Every time we run our power plays, [defenses] get weaker and weaker and weaker," Brandon Dooley said. "Then Reggie breaks one."

"They've really gotten a lot stronger," Marvin Dooley said. "Every one of them has gone up over 50 pounds in the bench press. They all dead lift over 500 pounds. All of them had a great summer."

After the 0-2 start last season, the Colonials won six of their next seven games, only falling to Division I state finalist Middletown. Carroll rushed for at least 190 yards and two touchdowns in five of those wins.

This year, William Penn has put an emphasis on getting off to a faster start. The Colonials must be ready, because they play host to No. 2 St. Mark's on Sept. 6, then take on No. 3 Salesianum on Sept. 13 at Baynard Stadium before starting Blue Hen Flight A play.

"We know our offense now," Marvin Dooley said. "Hopefully, we can hit that first game not in preseason form, but in midseason form. We're way ahead of last year."

Carroll certainly expects to be ahead of last year. He has had no injury issues during this preseason.

"I've done a lot of drills, a lot of cutting stuff, working on my explosiveness out of my cuts," Carroll said. "That's what I'm going to do more this year, make people miss. My feet are much quicker this year.

"The other teams will be prepared. That's why I put in a lot of work in the offseason, getting stronger, getting faster, getting quicker. They're going to step their game up, and I'm going to step my game up."

The next level

At 5-8 and 175 pounds, Carroll is on the borderline of being undersized for Division I college football. But he runs bigger, and no two runs are the same. Sometimes, he makes a tackler miss. Sometimes, he lowers a shoulder and bulls over a larger opponent. Sometimes, he does both. Johnson, the Colonials' quarterback, recalled a 2013 play against Appoquinimink when Carroll ran over five tacklers.

That's why West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Louisiana Tech, Temple and North Carolina A&T are among the schools recruiting him.

"I never know what I'm going to do next. It's just God-given talent," Carroll said. "I see holes and I'm quick enough to break through them. And I've always been stronger than I look. Some people underestimate me."

The best way to defend Carroll is to keep your composure and not get discouraged when he breaks a long run. Because that's what the Colonials are banking on.

"You tell your guys to keep working, try to make the tackle and make sure they keep their head up," said Blum, the A.I. coach. "Because if not, they're going to be eating a face full of dirt.

"Even when you do everything right, sometimes the other guy is pretty good and he can make you look bad."

William Penn also expects to add more of a passing element this year. Johnson completed only 26 passes last season, but Marvin Dooley expects that number to increase.

"D.J. is like night and day," the coach said. "I can't tell you how much our quarterback has improved. His maturity level, just leading the team, in that capacity it's night and day from last year. I rode him last year. I was hard on him. He took it all and really did a tremendous job of improving."

The ever-present threat of Carroll's running should open up the passing game.

"We can hand the ball off 20 times a game. Then we go deep one time, and you just see our guy running down the sideline," Johnson said. "I can just throw it to him easily."

Carroll didn't play much defense last season, but that also will change. He will line up at cornerback against some of the Colonials' toughest opponents. College coaches have told Marvin Dooley that DB may be his position at the next level, so the coach wants Carroll to have some defensive tape for recruiters to examine.

But No. 25's primary role will be to carry the ball, to spin and juke and cut, lower the boom and run away from opponents.